Town Planning in Ancient India c9.21

c9.21

The number of main thoroughfares in any city must be adequate for its area: "The king should construct as many roads as the city requires."² The author of the Rājavallabha gives us his own estimate of the number of chief highways that may be in a city. "The greatest city has seventeen thoroughfares lengthwise, and as many breadthwise; the average city has four less, and the worst contains nine, this being the least number of longitudinal streets in a city worth the name.”¹ The estimates of the Mayamata are different. “The streets running from east to west may be 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, or 2 in number and as many may be running from north to south. Or their number may be odd so that it is 11, 9, 7, 5, 3, or 1.”²